Louie Listens
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Louie missed out on a couple of adventures with his family, but that didn't matter to him until Webby accuses him of not listening and he finds a way to monetize his flaws. Will it backfire? Probably.


**Louie was missing in several of the last few episodes, so here's a story about Louie getting brought back up to speed by his friends and family while working on his own personal flaws. Spoilers for episodes up to date 8/7/2019**

**Trying to get several Ducktales stories out before the show comes back in September. Enjoy!**

* * *

"You know what your problem is?" Webby accused, though it was way too early for this in Louie's opinion.

"Probably, but if you've found a new one I'll add it to the list." Webby stared at him incredulously, then shook her head and continued.

"_Your_ problem is that you never listen!" Louie held up a finger, scrolling through the memo app on his phone.

"I've got that one written down already."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"Well Webby, I have one or two things I can do about my flaws. I could either spin it so it's part of the patented Louie Duck charm, or I could do nothing, which is my preferred approach."

"Louie, you need to fix this, you have to start paying attention to people."

"Sorry, what was that? I wasn't listening."

"How are you ever going to become a business duck if you can't listen to people?" Webby asked, getting frustrated.

"I assume, like everything else, that it will happen to me on accident. Or I'll steal my fortune."

"Louie!" She smacked his arm.

"Okay, okay, I was kidding. I won't steal my fortune. But I don't fix myself. It's part of the patent-pending Louie Duck charm."

"It's not charming to never care about anyone else," Webby pointed out, turning and walking away.

So Louie set up shop, making a sign and grabbing a tip jar.

"Louie Listens, talk through your problems for just a dollar. " He wanted to prove Webby wrong, so he was severely undercharging for his time.

Dewey was unsurprisingly his first client. He dropped four quarters in the jar and climbed up on the stool, looking at his brother.

"I just had the coolest adventure with mom!" He said excitedly. Louie bit back a groan. His brother's adventure spiels were the last thing he wanted to spend his time on. but the fee was paid and the challenge had been issued, so he gave Dewey a smile.

"Go on, I'm listening." He distinctly remembered passing on this adventure to... What had he done instead? Practiced skating? Maybe. But now he had to focus on whatever his brother had to say.

"So mom and I borrowed the plane, which used to be called the Cloud Slayer, and we visited the seed vault because there was no way we were going to miss out on seeing the money tree." The seed vault was the part of the story where, previously, Louie would, if he had been listening, stop listening. But not this time! This time he soldiered on, getting to those magic words: Money Tree.

"There's a money tree?"

"Yeah, it was so pretty. And I flew and crashed the cloud slayer and we all nearly died and it was the coolest thing ever."

Instead of pointing out that everything was the coolest thing ever to Dewey, Louie said, "That does sound cool."

"It was just really nice to have a Dewey and Della adventure, you know? Mom is so cool, and having her back makes me really feel like I could do anything, even if I don't do it perfectly at first."

"Huh." Louie had formerly believed that his brother was already able to do anything. It was nice to know that Dewey wasn't always as unstoppable as he seemed.

"I'm glad you had a good time." There, he had proved it. He could listen, he wasn't so broken. He could shut down his shop right now, easy peasy. But he could already spot his next customer.

"I'll have my usual, please," Huey requested. Louie cracked a can of Pep open, ceremoniously took the first sip, and passed the rest to Huey. It was an expensive preference, but Louie had his supplier.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" He asked after Huey had tucked a one-dollar bill into the jar.

"The heart is so complex and fragile," Huey started, waxing poetic and making Louie want to tune him out. But that wasn't what Huey had paid for.

"I got to see it at work the other day with my friend, Fenton. He's a brilliant scientist who works for Uncle Scrooge, and Webby and I helped him take this lady, Gandra, on a date." Louie could not have been more bored.

"How'd they go?"

"It was crazy! Nothing went as planned, I thought I could plan for all those outcomes, I hoped that I could control every variable but real people have emotions and motives. It was hard to come to terms with." Louie placed a hand on Huey's shoulder.

"We don't always get to control what happens now, just what we do about it next." Louie tried to figure out where that advice had come from. But he was always working on anticipating the next moves and pulling his brothers out of trouble. He expected things to go wrong, Huey depended on things going right. For a second, with the shoulder touch, they saw things from each other's perspectives. Then the moment was over.

"You've earned your dollar, I'm going to go." Huey was surprised by the exhibit of emotion from the usual apathetic Louie. Every time he saw Louie's facade break it came as a shock and deeply unsettled him. He needed time to reflect and Louie needed time to recover. He spotted Scrooge while he was getting out of his headspace.

"Uncle Scrooge, want to talk for a dollar?"

"You pay me a dollar to talk? I'd talk for free, lad."

"No, I'll listen for a dollar."

"Louie no adult would pay you a dollar to have a conversation," Scrooge said, giving him a look.

"Can I pay in dimes?" Launchpad asked.

"Of course you can, Launchpad."

"I stand corrected," Scrooge said, leaving Louie with his customer.

"Time is money," Louie reminded scrooge while Launchpad counted out dimes.

"I only have nine, but I have two nickels."

"That's okay, Launchpad." The last two coins were dropped into the jar and Launchpad launched into the conversation.

"You know Darkwing Duck?"

"Yeah, of course I do, you talk about it nonstop."

"Not it, him. And I finally got to meet Jim Starling, like all of the other times I finally got to meet him except I was conscious for most of it this time."

"Good job."

"And I found out they were making a Darkwing Duck movie! But don't get excited because that's not happening anymore," Launchpad continued.

"Uh-huh." Louie was doing his best to follow Launchpad's scattered storyline. It wasn't even a lack of interest, Launchpad was just hard to keep up with.

"But what is happening is that the guy who was going to play Darkwing is actually really cool, totally my best friend after like, Dewey, and he's going to help people like he's the real Darkwing Duck. Isn't that exciting?!"

"Yeah, it is exciting. That's really cool Launchpad."

"Anyway, I've got go to tell everyone else I know about the return of Darkwing Duck. I'm going to need more dimes though..." Louie was about to pack up his shop and buy three dollars worth of popcorn when the seat became occupied once more.

"I'm paying to talk to my own son," Della laughed. Louie's face reddened.

"You don't have to pay, mom!" He squeaked, trying to cram the sign and the jar out of sight. She laughed again and slipped a dollar into the jar before he could stop her.

"I like this business idea, Louie. You're an entrepreneur, like your uncle. I'm proud of you." His blush deepened and he wanted to just die right here.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"We have ten years of catching up to do, why don't I tell you who I used to be?"

"S-sure." Louie was mortified. The battered dollar she'd put in the jar was the only cash he'd ever felt dirty about earning, and he'd done some stupid and embarrassing things for money. This just felt wrong, and he was starting to learn that lesson Webby had been trying to teach him. This wasn't charming.

"I know I'm not the best mom, but I think I would have been a worse mom back then. I think I learned patience on the moon, learned how to be less angry and impulsive... I'm not perfect but... I'm glad you were raised by my brother. I'm so proud of how you three turned out, because if you had been just like me... You would be time bombs." Louie let out a surprised yelp.

"B-but... But the part I'm most proud of myself for I got from you. Uncle Scrooge said I could see the angles like you do... Before I even met you you made me believe I could be more than a smooth talker..." Louie was about to cry, looking away in shame, blinking hard. The next thing he knew, her arms were being wrapped around him, and he felt so much better.

"You are more than a smooth talker Louie, you can be anything you want to be. I'll be here to talk and listen as you figure out what you want to be." Louie smiled weakly and hugged back before pulling away.

"You don't have to pay next time we talk," he said holding back tears, still feeling bad about that worn dollar bill.

"Sounds good. I think you have your next customer bud." Della pointed to the doorway, where Webby stood. Once again Louie tried to pack away his business, but Webby had seen it. He knew now how shallow this looked, his statement that you weren't worth his time if you weren't willing to to pay up. He was humiliated.

"I get it, Webby. I have to care about someone other than myself. Whatever you want to talk about, whatever you've been wanting to talk about, I'm ready to listen, and I'll listen for free."

"A lot has happened lately. People just want to know that someone cares about what's going on in their lives, good, bad, or complicated. I just got my best friend Lena back from the shadow realm, and I kind of just wanted you to care about that. But you wouldn't listen." Webby pointed out.

"I'm really happy for you, Webby. And I'm so sorry about not listening before. I didn't even get it until my mom put this dollar in my jar." He took out the worn dollar, knowing he would likely keep it for a long time, like his own number one dime. He would put it in his false-bottomed drawer with his other most special treasures.

"I think you've earned this one, too. As long as you don't try to monetize your family anymore." Louie laughed sadly as Webby dropped a dollar in the jar.

"I'm going to work on that..." He promised. It wasn't charming to be distant and shallow. He could see that now.


End file.
